Willing to Be Treated Unfairly

We must regard what Jesus taught as a search and struggle to find a treasure. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount functions as a treasure map or guide to obtain it. For in the Sermon on the Mount—called the “golden commandments”—there are truths that lead us to obtain inestimable heavenly treasure. Admittedly, many do not understand what meekness means in the Bible. Generally, the idea in Christians’ minds is incorrect, because unconsciously they adopt the common, ingrained notion of meekness and think they understand its meaning. This causes many people’s spiritual eyes to grow increasingly blind, unable to grasp the biblical meaning of meekness, and failing to practice it.

Meekness in Matthew 5 must be understood correctly from God’s perspective. We must learn to grasp the original meaning of this verse. Do not understand meekness as “slow movement” or “speaking softly and not harshly,” because these are only outward appearances. They do not guarantee that a person who appears outwardly or physically meek truly possesses the meekness meant in the Bible.

1 Peter 3:4 says, “Your adornment is the hidden person of the heart.” Meekness must come from an inner attitude, not outward appearance. In the Old Testament, this term appears several times, for example, in Proverbs 15:1; 25:11; and Job 40:22. The word meek in those verses carries the sense of “softening wrath.” Meekness can soften anger or wrath. In Proverbs 31:26, meekness means “gracious speech.” Thus, a meek person can give grace to others. Meekness can also mean “humility.”

In Greek, the word used for meekness points more to an inner disposition. If we dig into the riches of God’s word on this topic and look at some biblical figures whom God recognizes as meek, we find that meekness means the following.

First, a person who is willing to be treated unfairly or harmed. To inherit the earth in the coming life, God will not glorify anyone without a process like the one Jesus experienced, a Person willing to be treated unjustly and harmed. This is what we need to learn. Generally, we are people who are unwilling to be hurt or treated unjustly. We feel we have a right not to be harmed and a right to be treated fairly. In the Old Testament, we meet a figure famous for his meekness; the Bible even says there was no one as meek as him. Numbers 12:3 states that the man was Moses.

When Moses saw an Egyptian killing a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian who killed the Hebrew. This shows Moses was not physically meek. Moses also once became angry and smashed the two stone tablets. But why is he called meek? When Aaron and Miriam opposed Moses, he did not retaliate or harm them. Moses entrusted everything to God’s wisdom. Given Israel’s leadership hierarchy at the time, Moses was the top leader. Although Aaron and Miriam were his siblings, God entrusted the nation’s leadership to Moses.

Given Moses’ strategic position, it would have been easy for him to strike back at Aaron and Miriam. He could have asserted that he was the supreme leader. But Moses did not do that. Even more extraordinary, Moses prayed for his siblings and forgave them so they would not suffer God’s punishment. That is a noble attitude. Talking about this is easy, but putting it into practice is very difficult.